EVENTS

2013 BRIGHTON SPEED TRIALS CANCELLED

NEWS ABOUT THE BRIGHTON SPEED TRIALS AND SOME PHOTOS FROM 2012

BY Lucy England ON 05 June 2013

The Brighton and Hove Motor Club is known for organising the world famous Brighton Speed Trials which are held along Madeira Drive on Brighton seafront every year.

Brooklands Norton 2012

It is always an entertaining day out for all ages, especially on a lovely sunny day, as a totally eclectic mixture of vehicles - cars and motorcycles - take their turn to speed over the quarter mile course on the seafront in an attempt to be the fastest!

De Dion Bouton

The event has been running for over 100 years now as it was first held in 1905 and some of the vehicles which enter each year look as though they might have been in the original race! It is in fact the longest running motorsport event in the world!

The Old Fella

The sea defence wall along which the coast road above Madeira Drive now runs, was constructed in 1830-38 to hold back the sea which at that time lapped right up to the cliffs. Today it is a great place to view the Speed Trials from, although it only costs £10 to get into Madeira Drive and wander down to see all the vehicles and racers as they prepare for their turn.

Nothing tops this for atmosphere, and the smell and smoke of the burnouts as the racers heat their tyres up prior to their run and the sound of revving and racing engines is unbeatable.

It is unusual in modern motorsport to be able to get so close to the actual racers and their machines and have a chance to watch them burn off from such close quarters.

Cancelled for 2013

This year the event was scheduled to take place on the 14th of September but it has just been announced that the 2013 event has been cancelled due to safety concerns.

ASCO Honda sidecar at start line 2012

Last year an ASCO Honda sidecar outfit was involved in a crash in which the passenger was killed.

Due to this, the Brighton and Hove Motor Club and the City Safety Advisory Group, which reviews safety for major Brighton&Hove events, have opted not to stage the event this year.

Apparently this is because enquiries into the accident are still on-going and the Coroner has yet to hold an inquest into the sidecarpassenger's sad death.

Rest In Peace Charlotte Tagg.

Here are some of our photos of a few of the entrants from last year's Brighton Speed Trials - hopefully the event will be back in 2014 once safety concerns have been dealt with, as it is a great and traditional Brighton motor sport event and will be missed.